Nintendo may be making it more difficult to play older games on official hardware, but there are alternatives if you know where to search. Dolphin, a popular emulator that supports most GameCube and Wii games, will be available on Steam later this year, making it much simpler to locate. Dolphin is currently free, but releasing it on Steam might make it easier to use the emulator on devices like the Steam Deck, where switching to desktop mode and manually downloading apps can be time-consuming.
Nevertheless, installing Dolphin from the Steam store does not get you quick access to old Nintendo games. The Dolphin store website emphasises that “The software does not include any games. Any game you intend to utilise with Dolphin must be an original copy.” It should sound familiar if you’ve dabbled in vintage game emulation at all – replicating console games is a bit of a legally murky area.
That’s presumably why the Dolphin Steam website is hesitant to specify what it does, instead opting to state it plays “classics from the Big N’s cube-shaped and motion-controlled consoles.” The emulator’s website is a little more open, noting explicitly that “downloading commercial games is prohibited” and advising users to utilise homebrew tools to back up game discs they lawfully possess.
Dolphin is intended to be available on Steam Early Access by the end of the second quarter of 2023, with a full release planned for the end of the year.
